Stache of Goodness
When their hockey season ends, players start or continue work on their favorite off-ice activities. I’m thrilled by Zach Parise’s promotion of reading, and seeing large banners of #9 beats the daylights out of the “Reading is Fundamental” public service blips that ran during the Saturday morning cartoons of my youth. For every hockey player [...]
Devils’ End
It’s just about four weeks since the Devils’ season ended and I’m finally rational enough to write rationally about it. I think this was the most uneventful, non-season in the decade I’ve been a season ticket holder, and therein lies the problem. Lou signed Ilya Kovalchuk, but Lemaire couldn’t figure out how and when to [...]
Just When It Can Get No Worse
It gets worse. I love Chico’s comment: “This team might not be together next year.” Of course they won’t be together next year, because short playoff runs are depressing. Colin White: miss your guy, then reach instead of skating. And his guy was Carcillo. Kind of sums it up. Mike Mottau: Three words: “Where’s my [...]
Pathetic Devils Effort
Why are Colin White and Mike Mottau together? On the winning goal, Colin White (a) followed his guy behind the net (b) reached, leaned and otherwise made lazy swipes at the puck and (c) left Mottau to remember to cover the weak side (oops). These two don’t belong on the ice at all, let alone [...]
Playoff Minion
Here’s a statistic you won’t hear Chico Resch cough up on a break in play: There are three Jewish players on three different teams in the playoffs for what may be the first time in NHL history. Jeff Halpern (Kings), Mathieu Schneider (Coyotes) and Mike Cammalleri (Canadiens) are all vying for a chance to make [...]
Playoff Predictions
Time for some NHL playoff predictions. The Kings are going to shock everyone. Their goaltending situation has gone from stable to solid, and they have one of the best teams of young players with Frolov, Kopitar and Doughty. Their veteran leadership is tough and has been through a grueling first-round matchup before. Rewind to 99-00, [...]
MacShark
Princeton senior Cam MacIntyre was signed by the San Jose Sharks today. He’s off to the little Sharks in Worcester, MA, and it remains to be seen how he’ll recover from a senior year that left him watching the game from the stands, injured, more than playing on the ice. But he joins former teammate [...]
Sixty Seconds of Toughness
Why is it the Devils can’t play a full sixty minutes of hockey? For the third time in about two weeks, they gave up a costly goal in the last minute of play. Against Chicago and the Rangers, that late goal sent the game into a shootout that ended badly for the Devils. It’s multiple [...]
Au (Revoir), Canada
Another Olympics in the books. It was my favorite in years, for so many reasons. US Men’s and Women’s Hockey Silver Medals. OK, so they both lost to the Canadians, but both gold medal games were great. Seeing Jenny Potter with her kids on the ice and Angela Ruggiero tearing up but still hugging her [...]
Diversity, Cures and Hockey
There’s a debate running through the more erudite sub-nets of online discussion about the morality and desirability of “curing” Down Syndrome. I’ve been pointed at two pieces by fellow Tigers and both struck a chord with me. Lisa Belkin is the New York Times Motherlode parenting blogger and she raises the basic question about the [...]